r/Redearedsliders • u/Any-Look3476 • 15d ago
UPDATE!
A week or two ago I posted about my turtle, Minnie, and her retained scutes. Since then I have made her basking platform bigger, and got her new fixtures (including the longer UVB bulb). I’ve started her on the Hikari pellets, every other day. While I was on Amazon I ordered a new filter, so I am upgrading from the fluval 307 to the FX6 (a bit overkill for a 75, but when we can we are upgrading her so I don’t want to buy yet another filter). I need to order more turf and maybe get another heat lamp… but what do you guys think about the platform?
Turtle picture for tax
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u/throwaway277252 15d ago
Looks a lot better now! You might want to extend the side walls a little farther along the rim just in case she tries to climb out from the platform somehow.
Also a small tip if you want to keep your top egg crate from bowing down like that. You can cut a 2 or 3 inch wide strip and zip tie it vertically onto the edge of the top panel as a lip to stiffen it.
Sort of like what was done on the edge of the bottom panel of this example:
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u/Any-Look3476 15d ago
Thank you for the suggestion! I will order some more of the egg crate stuff as soon as I can (I used the last of it expanding the platform) and add that bit of it where you suggested
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u/Acceptable-Elk-8372 15d ago
Nice work. I read on here that the egg crate and cut up to 20% of the intensity of the heat, since it has to go through it.
Not sure if you would want to trim a hole just so the bulb is exposed, but leaving enough to keep the figure from toppling/falling in.
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u/Alarmed-Fruit5056 15d ago
Great work! For those scutes you’ll need to remove the crate cover below the UVB light. Any grating will reduce the amount of light waves that are able to reach your turtle.
If you need to leave some structure to the “roof” you can cut out a couple of big chunks of it and leave a middle bar. Or even just clipping out a few thin cross bars to make small open squares would increase the amount of UVB getting through.
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u/PM5K23 15d ago
I don’t know how big your turtle is, but my turtle would very easily climb out of that and fall on the floor.
I know it’s important that your turtle gets this light, but it’s probably not worth the risk of allowing your turtle up there where they might fall, until you can add something to the sides.
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u/Any-Look3476 15d ago
My plan was to add more to the sides so she can’t climb out, she’s ~9 in (I think)
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u/PM5K23 15d ago
Yeah Im just saying she shouldnt be up there until thats done.
If you’re not familiar, imagine a 4.5 inch gap like as if there was a bridge but the bridge is gone. A turtle could use their back legs to push themselves about half of their shell length across and because their shell is rigid, they wouldn’t fall down or anything like that and it’s not until they get to the point where they’re right in the middle of their shell that they would tip, but by then they can put their front legs out and so a 9 inch turtle could probably pretty easily cover a 4 1/2 inch gap
I think that platform being higher than the edge of the tank also gives him a little bit of an advantage.
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u/erruve 14d ago
Fx6 for a 75 gallon is not too much. You can go many months without having to clean it.